Finding Text
Federal agency: Department of Health and Human Services
Federal program title: Family Violence Prevention and Services/State Domestic Violence Coalition
Assistance Listing Number: 93.591
Award year: 2022
Type of Finding: Material Weakness in Internal Control over Compliance and Material Noncompliance
Criteria or specific requirement: 2 CFR Part 200 Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards (Uniform Guidance) requires compliance with reporting provisions. The Coalition should have sufficient policies and procedures in place to ensure compliance with reporting provisions.
Condition: The Coalition did not submit required annual reports during the year under audit on a timely basis.
Questioned costs: None.
Context: Under the terms and conditions of each grant award, a federal financial report is due annually no later than December 30th for each open project.
Cause: The Coalition’s current internal controls were not sufficient to ensure completeness of the reporting population for the year. A few submissions were late due to unforeseen events outside the Coalition’s control. These included a super typhoon which hit the island early in the year, causing infrastructure and communications issues; big four firm auditors which were situated on the island left the market and could not perform the audit; and multiple other mid to small sized firms declining the job due to scheduling or capacity issues. Finally, they were able to find an auditor late in August, which delayed the submission even further.
Effect: A failure to submit the federal financial report results in noncompliance with the requirements of Uniform Guidance.
Repeat Finding: No
Recommendation: We recommend the Coalition develop additional policies and procedures that ensure all reporting requirements are met on an annual basis. If the Coalition lacks sufficient internal resources, they should consult with an external resource to draft the procurement policy.
Views of Responsible Officials: Per management, they will make it a priority to be aware of all deadlines related to the submission of quarterly and annual reports for federal awards and submit these on time.